Gina Mazany steps back into the Octagon this March at UFC 235, facing the undefeated Macy Chiasson.
The fighters will collide at bantamweight, despite Chiasson winning the UFC Ultimate Fighter 28 at featherweight, which made Mazany concerned about whether or not Chiasson will make 135 pounds.
“When Mick (Maynard) asked me, the first question I asked him was ‘this is at (1)35…right?’ He’s like ‘yeah’ and the second question I asked was ‘is she gonna make the weight?’ That is something…because one of the things I can’t stand at this level of fighting in the UFC is…too many people miss weight and too many people get away with it and fight me. Fighting a bigger, taller opponent…in her last fight, the commentary is like she’s 170 and walks around at 5” 11’ and she’s a true featherweight and whatever and she is. She’s a huge chick, but if you can make the weight…that’s awesome. But if you can’t, then that’s not fair to me…that’s not fair to your opponent. I really hope she shows up and I really hope she does it professional and makes weight, that would be awesome. Keeping my fingers crossed for that,” says Mazany in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
Chiasson has fought at featherweight during her brief professional MMA career, with this bout serving as Chiasson’s bantamweight division debut.
Mazany is dating fellow UFC fighter Tim Elliott, who were brought together due to their relationship with the late Robert Follis.
“We have a mutual coach (in) Robert Follis and as you know, he passed away about a year ago. I messaged him (Elliott) and said ‘hey, lets meet for a beer’ because I knew he (Follis) was really near and dear to him. It was (Follis’ passing) right around his fight and Follis didn’t make it, a long story short…we ended up just going out and having a beer. You wanna know the real story? So he messaged me and he goes ‘yeah, I’m at the Palomino and you should meet me there’ and what I thought he meant was the Palazzo. So I took an Uber to the Palomino ‘cause the Palazzo is a casino or whatever and it’s a strip club. We end up going there, but he was like up at the top and they knew him from the Ultimate Fighter and all the guys like love him there. Actually at the Palomino, they have a secret MMA gym…they’re huge MMA fans. They treat us well, it was fine…it was fine, super random. We ended up getting a Robert Follis tattoo that I drew up for us at The Meat Rack and we got it that night and we’ve just been together since,” says Mazany.
UFC 235 takes place on Saturday, March 2 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Jon Jones and Anthony Smith headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
